Paul V. Steffen

Paul Vernon Steffen, 91, adored husband and Father, passed away on April 10, 2021 at his home in the town of Paradise Valley. His children were both with him. His health took an unexpected and sudden decline sending him to the hospital for ten days bravely trying to recover. He declared "the good is gone" and came home to a brief period of palliative care. He was born in Waterloo, Iowa in 1929 and grew up in the small farm belt town of Grundy Center, Iowa. He graduated from the Grundy Center High School where he was involved in track, was student body president, received the American Legion School Award and enjoyed building and flying control line model airplanes with his life-long friend Cliff Gates. He always said the town library was very good to him. He started college as an art major at Iowa State University, then transferred to State University of Iowa. The Korean fracas interrupted his education and he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1951. After completion of basic training and a short tour as an airplane mechanic, he entered the Aviation Cadet Pilot Training Program, graduating in February 1953 at Williams AFB. He was assigned to SAC at Bergstrom AFB in Texas ...[more]

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a year and then was transferred to Nagoya Air Base in Japan and to TAC. Paul was a jet fighter pilot flying the F84G Thunder jet, the USAF's first operational nuclear strike fighter, with the 9th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 49th Fighter Bomber Group. While stationed at Marana AFB, he met Jeanne Wells, a striking and stylish business major in her last semester at the University of Arizona and they began a five year mostly long-distance courtship. In 1956 Paul was released from active duty, became engaged to Miss Jeanne Wells, enrolled at the Northrop Institute of Technology in California, and was married on June 22, 1957 in Phoenix. He once expressed surprise that she waited for him, but she was a smart young woman and knew he was a very special man. The newlyweds lived in Los Angeles, had a daughter, and Paul graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the Northrop Institute. They moved to Phoenix and he worked briefly at AiResearch before being hired as a Mechanical/General Engineer trainee for the USAF Phoenix Contract Management District training with the Quality Assurance Division. He and his wife had a son during this time, purchased their first house, and Paul moved into a General Engineer position where one of his assignments was writing quality plans for submission to NASA on components for the Gemini and Apollo programs. He moved his family to Tucson in 1965 accepting a position with the Air Force Plant Representative's Office at Hughes Aircraft as the engineer assigned to the quality branch working on the Falcon air-to-air missile, the Army TOW anti-tank missile and F-4 Launcher. He returned to Phoenix and spent 26 years working in supervisory positions in Quality Assurance for the Defense Contract Management Agency before retiring. Paul maintained several long-term friendships with engineers from work who met fairly regularly. This was known to his family as "lunch with the guys" and it was something he was really looking forward to resuming when the worst of the pandemic was over. Paul and his wife enjoyed couples bridge together and they grew roses for garden shows for many years. They enjoyed being in the woods visiting Flagstaff in the summers and occasionally staying with good friends who owned a house on Tonto Creek that was shared with a few raccoons and many hummingbirds. They enjoyed traveling together and family vacations with their children. Paul particularly loved the ocean along the California coast and it was his favorite place to visit. He shared a love of art with his daughter and they were both a bit too slow when it came to visiting art museums, trying the patience of his wife and son. He played tennis for decades at the Tennis Center in Phoenix and taught both his children to play. The entire family enjoyed playing croquet in the backyard on the lawn and board games were a favorite pastime. Paul continued to enjoy working on model airplanes and his children had a great time learning to make balsa wood models of Spitfires and Messerschmitts with him. He was very knowledgeable about aviation history and read extensively on the subject. He also enjoyed reading techno-thriller novels such as those by Tom Clancy and books and periodicals about cars and wooden boats. He was very interested in automobiles and was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers for over 25 years and served as the Arizona Section Chairman in 1972-73. He enjoyed attending car shows with his son, Vernon, and his desire to periodically purchase a new vehicle was affectionately known to his family as "car-itis." He purchased the first of several Nikon cameras while stationed in Japan continuing a life-long love of photography. He listened to lots of music and the big band swing era was his favorite - he had recollections of great concerts he had attended and his favorite tune was Satin Doll. He enjoyed sitting outside in his backyard planted with plenty of trees, shrubs, and flowering bushes. He had appreciated the beauty of the desert since being stationed in Arizona and was happy not to live in that Iowa snow or have to shovel it! Paul is survived by his daughter Christina Steffen, his son Vernon Steffen, and his sister-in-law and her husband Andrea and Keith Close. He was brokenhearted at the death of his beloved wife, Jeanne, last November and was also preceded in death by his much-loved parents Vernon H. Steffen and Josephine (Ferkin) Steffen. He was a remarkable man, kind, generous, and with a good heart. He will always be loved beyond measure. A private committal service will be held June 4th.